Indestructible
by alynwa
Summary: Originally written for Picfic Tuesday on Livejournal. The picture at left is the prompt for the story. Illya and Napoleon have a conversation.


Napoleon Solo, Illya Kuryakin, Slater Gray* and Mr. Waverly sat in the Survival School's auditorium observing the latest graduation ceremony along with their counterparts from Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. It was customary for the Number Ones of Sections I, II and III to attend even though getting to the remote island was no easy task. Obviously, the newly minted agents could not invite family and friends to their graduation, so the fact that the people who would become their superiors in the organization took time away from their busy saving the world schedules to attend meant a lot to the class. Each Policy Operations, Security Operations and Enforcement Operations leader was looking over each graduate as his name was called to see if there was something that made them stand out from the rest.

There were fifteen graduates in this year's class; there had been twenty – eight people in the beginning, including three women. Unfortunately, none of the women had lasted two months, though men had been the first to wash out. After the conclusion of the ceremony, everyone headed to the conference room where a reception was held and the newest members of Sections II and III were formally introduced to the people behind the portraits on the Leaders' Wall.

Illya stood next to Napoleon on one side of the room near the buffet table as they drank coffee and watched the goings on around them. They had met and spoken with each graduate and the ones they thought might be a good fit for the North American region were introduced to the Old Man who, of course, had the final say. Napoleon looked around and then asked Illya, "Do you remember how you felt when you completed Survival training, Tovarisch?"

The Russian's brow furrowed. "I felt a sense of accomplishment, pride. I was ready to prove my worth to UNCLE by going into the field. Instead, Cutter had me stay to teach explosives to the next class, the first time a new agent had ever been asked to do so. I felt an enormous sense of pride at the time."

The brunet raised his eyebrows. "Is that all?"

Illya thought a moment as he reached for another sandwich from the buffet. He took a bite and chewed before answering, "I felt that I owed it to Mr. Waverly and the KGB to be the best; first to prove he was right to bring in a Soviet and second, to make it impossible for the KGB to order me back to the USSR for being a failure."

Napoleon clapped the smaller man's shoulder affectionately. "You, Partner Mine, couldn't be a failure if you tried. You want to know how _I _felt when I graduated?"

Illya smiled, "Is that not the reason why you started this conversation? Tell me; how did you feel?"

"Indestructible. I felt like I could take on any challenge, any enemy, any_thing_ and win. Evil organizations, mad scientists, corrupt governments were all going to learn to quake in fear when they heard the name Napoleon Solo. I felt like there was nothing I couldn't do."

"Really."

"Looking back, I guess you could say, ah, that I was…_arrogant._ My success rate as a, ah, _solo_ agent was good enough that I didn't think I needed a partner; I saw having one as a liability. Before I had met you or even heard about you, I had let Mr. Waverly know, more than once, that I enjoyed being a lone eagle and wanted to stay that way."

"And then one day, he calls me into his office to introduce me to my new partner. And, there you were; a skinny little guy in ill – fitting clothes in desperate need of a haircut. I was as pleased to gain a partner as I would be to get an STD."

Illya almost choked on his sandwich laughing. "I have been compared to many things, but never that! I did see that you were arrogant in the beginning, but never toward me; something for which I was grateful. So, tell me: When did you stop feeling like you were indestructible?"

"When I started feeling like _we_ are indestructible, Partner Mine."

*First introduced in "Like a Phoenix from Ashes"


End file.
